Canberra’s newest bar and dining experience, Tongue & Groove has officially opened its doors to the public.
Paul Kelly of ‘Paul Kelly Design’, is behind this masterpiece of a fit-out, which transforms into an up-market ‘lounge bar’ at night. Customised hydraulic pendent drop-lights lower two meters and complete the intimate, ‘after-dark’ feel.
The Tongue & Groove team has added enviable trimmings to the large space, that’s raw concrete beams don a post-modern industrial feel. Wall murals, plush lounges and long timber benches dominate and add warmth to the space. Tongue & Groove also incorporate the use of Enviro Foam, an environmentally friendly foam that provides insulation for noise, resulting in perfect acoustics.
The concept of the space is a centrally located contemporary and vibrant pizza bar, with various areas and facilities for all types of customers, irrespective of the time of day or night. The interior shell is a newly built six metre high retail space under the ATO building in the centre of Canberra, on two of the most recognizable streets for city residents.
The concrete Y frames were existing and have been used as a central feature to the main dining and lounge space with a custom sculpture running over the two frames, and up lighters enhancing the extending concrete arms. The area has three major features: a moving pendant lighting rig with 42 custom pendants on a staging truss that raises and lowers the lights from 5000mm to 2000mm for day and night, a sixty metre square hand painted post cold war industrial artwork, painted on the rear wall over a period of 4 weeks and a feature custom stainless steel and LED paper pendant extending with 80 individual support frames across the entire length of the space, holding 2000 A4 sheets of the rear artwork pulling them from the rear wall through the space. Between these are suspended LED tubes to illuminate at night.
The project features several different areas all connecting and mixing uses. The Kitchen area to the rear of the space houses the pizza outlet as well as the grill cooking line, and is centrally located to all areas for fast service. The Bar area faces Bunda Street and has three sides allowing customers to be served, as well as a two-storey display cabinet for product.
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